In the circle of light
wE gATHER
To illuminate the world.
The Mentor Artists Playwrights Project (MAPP) is an arts consultancy company that partners with schools and not-for-profit youth development organizations to share Thomas Kellogg’s unique playwriting workshops with young writers and to provide community presentations of the work.
A group of young people, each paired with a mentor actor or writer, participate in a progressive series of intensive playwriting workshops led by Master Artist Thomas Kellogg. With a core emphasis on the importance of the young person’s dreams and aspirations, Kellogg’s method introduces fundamental playwriting tools that explore the use of metaphor, the creation of characters through sensory and emotional work, monologue, dramatic storytelling, and theme. The young people are taught to examine the dynamics of conflict, and write plays where crisis, urgency, and possible consequences are explored.
The process culminates in public staged presentations of the young writers’ original plays by professional actors.